Christmas

Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. According to the Christian gospels, Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, where she and her husband Joseph had traveled to register in the Roman census. Christ's birth, or nativity, was said by his followers to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin. Early Christians celebrated more the subsequent Epiphany, when the baby Jesus was visited by the Magi (and this is still a primary time for celebration in Spain). Efforts to assign a date for his birth began some centuries later. The precise chronology of Jesus' birth and death as well as the historicity of Jesus are still debated.

References

• "Christmas" (1913). The Catholic Encyclopedia.
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• "Christmas" (1975). The New Columbia Encyclopedia. New York and London: Columbia University Press.
• Christmas in South America.
• Duchesne, Louis (1889). Les origines du culte chrétien: Etude sur la liturgie latine avant Charlemagne. Paris.
• Talley, Thomas J. (1986). The Origins of the Liturgical Year. New York: Pueblo Publishing Company.
• Time magazine, Dec. 13, 2004.
• Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509300-3